Cairns Base Hospital continues to treat more patients

Cairns Base Hospital activity levels continue to grow rapidly, the latest Queensland Health report card shows.

Health Minister Stephen Robertson said the December 2008 Quarterly Public Hospitals Performance Report released today showed most areas of the hospital’s activity continued to increase.

Mr Robertson said the increased activity demonstrated the impact of the additional $10 billion Health Action Plan funding which is expanding the capacity of our public hospitals throughout Queensland.

During the December quarter 2008, Cairns Base Hospital treated 19,460 people as inpatients or emergencies.

This was an increase of 0.1 per cent on the 19,486 people treated in the September quarter 2008 and an increase of 7.2 per cent on the 18,145 people treated during the December quarter 2007.

The hospital also provided 11,913 admitted patient episodes of care, an increase of 0.3 per cent on the 11,873 admitted patient episodes of care in the September quarter 2008 and an increase of 8 per cent on the 11,032 admitted patient episodes of care during the December quarter 2007.

During the December quarter 2008, the hospital also provided 36,476 outpatient occasions of service.

This was an increase of 8.4 per cent on the 33,634 outpatient occasions of service in the September quarter 2008, and an increase of 14.3 per cent on the 31,916 outpatient occasions of service during the December quarter 2007.

In the Emergency Department (ED), the hospital recorded 10,925 attendances during the December 2008 quarter, an increase of 0.5 per cent on the 10,985 ED attendances in the September quarter 2008 and an increase of 4.5 per cent on the 10,453 attendances during the December quarter 2007.

Mr Robertson said there was steady growth in activity during the December quarter 2008 in virtually all areas of the hospital.

“That’s why we’re committed to a major $446 million redevelopment of Cairns Hospital, which will deliver a major boost to local health service capabilities,” he said.

“This will provide over 2000 jobs during the life of the project and put us on track to meeting the growing demand for local health services, now and in the future.”

Work is already underway on the first stage of the redevelopment, with the clearing of buildings on the corner of Grove and Lake streets to make way for the construction of the new hospital car park.

In addition, the work on the Emergency Department redevelopment is now underway.

Total admissions for 2008 - including same day and overnight admissions – were 45,741, which was 8.2 per cent higher than the 42,282 admissions in 2007, she said.

Emergency Department admissions for 2008 also were higher, with the department recording its busiest year yet with a record 42,891 attendances, up 8.7 per cent on the 2007 figure of 39,460.

Mr Robertson said the December 2008 quarter also showed steady progress in surgery.

“A total of 1,337 patients from the elective surgery waiting list were admitted to the hospital during the December 2008 quarter,” he said.

“This was a decrease of 0.6 per cent on the 1,345 patients admitted from the waiting list in the September quarter 2008, but an increase of 11.2 per cent on the 1,202 patients admitted from the waiting list during the same period in 2007.”

Mr Robertson said the slight decrease in elective surgery in the December quarter compared with the September quarter was due to the traditional slowdown in surgery due to staff leave in the lead-up to Christmas

For 2008 as a whole, total surgical activity – elective and emergency – was up by 5.1 per cent, from 8,900 in 2007 to 9,359 in 2008

Of the Category 1 surgical patients treated in the December quarter last year, half were treated within 14 days and 90 per cent within 44 days.

Of the Category 2 patients treated in the December quarter, half were treated within 54 days and 90 per cent within 166 days.

Of the Category 3 patients treated, half were treated within 123 days and 90 per cent were treated within 451 days.

As at 1 January 2009, at Cairns Base Hospital:

• 61 Category 1 patients (56 per cent) were waiting longer than 30 days for their surgery. This compared with 33 patients (24.1 per cent) at 1 October 2008 and 98 patients (52.4 per cent) at 1 January 2008.

• 269 Category 2 patients (34.7 per cent) were waiting longer than 90 days for their surgery. This compares with 225 patients (28.3 per cent) at 1 October 2008 and 197 patients (30.8 per cent) at 1 January 2008.

• 51 Category 3 patients (13.1 per cent) were waiting longer than 365 days for their surgery. This compares with 68 patients (16.2 per cent) at 1 October 2008 and 245 patients (35.7 per cent) at 1 January 2008.

In the three months to December 31, 2008, compared to the same quarter in 2007, Queensland hospitals provided:

• A 3.2 per cent increase (or 11,744 more patients) in the number of people treated in emergency departments

• A 5.9 per cent increase (or 12,284 more patients) in the number of people admitted to hospital

• An 8.4 per cent increase (or 8,520 more patients) in the number of people admitted for same day care in a hospital

• A 3.6 per cent increase (or 3,764 more patients) in the number of people admitted for more than one day

• A 0.4 per cent increase (or 3,074 more appointments) in the number of outpatient services provided

• A 6.8 per cent increase (or 1,950 more patients) in the number of people receiving elective surgery, and

• A 4.8 per cent increase (or 482 more babies) in the number of babies born

Mr Robertson said staffing continued to grow strongly. Since 2005 Queensland Health has employed:

• 1,715 more doctors, a 38 per cent increase to 6,267
• 5,778 more nurses, a 26 per cent to 27,689, and
• 2,134 more health practitioners, professional and technical staff, up 31 per cent to 9,068.

Mr Robertson said the quarterly performance report reflected the hard work and commitment of the dedicated Queensland Health staff across the state, and he commended their efforts in providing quality health care to people in their communities.

A complete version of the Queensland Public Hospitals Quarterly Performance Report (December 08 quarter) is available in the What's New section of the Queensland Health website at http://www.health.qld.gov.au/

Definitions:

Outpatient services provided = the number of outpatient and other non-admitted services minus services such as emergency, pharmacy, pathology, diagnostic imaging, community health services, district nursing services and other outreach services.

People treated as inpatients or emergencies = the number of admitted patient episodes plus the number of emergency services not resulting in admission. For example, some people will attend the Emergency Department and then be admitted to hospital. These people will only be counted once as inpatients and not counted as emergency patients for this particular figure.

People admitted to hospital = the number of admitted patient episodes of care. For example, one person might be admitted to hospital on two separate occasions, they would then be counted as two episodes of care.

People treated in emergency departments = the number of accident and emergency services provided. For example, a patient attends emergency three times, then it is counted as three separate attendances to the emergency department.

People received elective surgery = the number of people admitted for elective surgery from the elective surgery waiting list in either Category 1, 2 or 3.

Category 1 – Urgent

Admission within 30 days desirable for a condition that has the potential to deteriorate quickly to the point that it may become an emergency.

Category 2 – Semi-urgent

Admission within 90 days desirable for a condition causing some pain, dysfunction or disability, but which is not likely to deteriorate quickly or become an emergency.

Category 3 – Non-urgent

Admission at some time in the future acceptable for a condition causing minimal or no pain, dysfunction or disability, which is unlikely to deteriorate quickly and which does not have the potential to become an emergency.

Long-wait

Term applied to any waiting time that exceeds the recommendation for that category.

ENDS

MEDIA: Kate Van Poelgeest 3234 1185 or 0458 449 267